The area now known as Lebanon first
appeared in recorded history around 3000 B.C. as a group of coastal cities and
a heavily forested hinterland. It was inhabited by the Canaanites, a Semitic
people, whom the Greeks called "Phoenicians" because of the purple dye they
sold.

These early inhabitants referred to
themselves as "men of Sidon" or the like, according to their city of origin,
and called the country "Lebanon." Because of the nature of the country and its
location, the Phoenicians turned to the sea, where they engaged in trade and
navigation.

Each of the coastal cities was an
independent kingdom noted for the special activities of its inhabitants. Tyre
and Sidon were important maritime and trade centers; Gubla (later known as
Byblos and now as Jubayl) and Berytus (present-day Beirut) were trade and
religious centres. Gubla was the first Phoenician city to trade actively with
Egypt and the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.), exporting cedar,
olive oil, and wine, while importing gold and other products from the Nile
Valley.

Before the end of the seventeenth century
B.C., Lebanese Egyptian relations were interrupted when the Hyksos, a nomadic
Semitic people, conquered Egypt. After about three decades of Hyksos rule
(1600-1570 B.C.), Ahmose I (1570-45 B.C.), a Theban prince, launched the
Egyptian liberation war. Opposition to the Hyksos increased, reaching a peak
during the reign of the pharaoh Thutmose III (1490-36 B.C.), who invaded Syria,
put an end to Hyksos domination, and incorporated Lebanon into the Egyptian
Empire.

Toward the end of the fourteenth century
B.C., the Egyptian Empire weakened, and Lebanon was able to regain its
independence by the beginning of the twelfth century B.C. The subsequent three
centuries were a period of prosperity and freedom from foreign control during
which the earlier Phoenician invention of the alphabet facilitated
communications and trade. The Phoenicians also excelled not only in producing
textiles but also in carving ivory, in working with metal, and above all in
making glass. Masters of the art of navigation, they founded colonies wherever
they went in the Mediterranean Sea (specifically in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, and
Carthage) and established trade routes to Europe and western Asia. Furthermore,
their ships circumnavigated Africa a thousand years before those of the
Portuguese. These colonies and trade routes flourished until the invasion of
the coastal areas by the Assyrians.

Assyrian rule (875-608 B.C.) deprived the
Phoenician cities of their independence and prosperity and brought repeated,
unsuccessful rebellions. In the middle of the eighth century B.C., Tyre and
Byblos rebelled, but the Assyrian ruler, Tiglath-Pileser, subdued the rebels
and imposed heavy tributes. Oppression continued unabated, and Tyre rebelled
again, this time against Sargon II (722-05 B.C.), who successfully besieged the
city in 721 B.C. and punished its population. During the seventh century B.C.,
Sidon rebelled and was completely destroyed by Esarhaddon (681-68 B.C.), and
its inhabitants were enslaved. Esarhaddon built a new city on Sidon's ruins. By
the end of the seventh century B.C., the Assyrian Empire, weakened by the
successive revolts, had been destroyed by Babylonia, a new Mesopotamian
power.

Source: Federal Research
Division of the Library of Congress and Wikipedia.

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